Aamir Khan on Fatima Sana Shaikh’s Casting in Thugs of Hindostan: ‘I’m Not Really Her Father’

Aamir Khan Opens Up on Casting Fatima Sana Shaikh in Thugs of Hindostan, Script Changes, and Creative Disagreements.

For an actor known for his sharp script sense, Aamir Khan’s decision to star in Thugs of Hindostan remains one of his most talked-about missteps. Despite its massive scale and star-studded cast, the 2018 film tanked at the box office. In a candid conversation with The Lallantop, Aamir reflected on the film’s casting challenges, removed plotlines, and the creative clashes that shaped its downfall.

Casting Fatima Sana Shaikh: ‘Main asal mein thodi uska baap hun’
Aamir revealed that finding a female lead for the film was no easy task. “When we were casting, no leading actress agreed to do the role. We approached Deepika, Alia, Shraddha — everyone refused,” he said, suggesting that script quality may have influenced their decision.

Eventually, Fatima Sana Shaikh, who played his daughter in Dangal, was brought on board. That casting sparked internal debate over the optics of her playing Aamir’s love interest so soon after portraying a father-daughter dynamic with him on screen.

“The director felt audiences wouldn’t accept it. He said, ‘You were her father in Dangal; how can she now be your girlfriend? People will reject this,’” Aamir recalled.

But the actor didn’t agree with the logic. “I don’t believe in that. Main asal mein thodi uska baap hun, aur na asal mein uska boyfriend. We’re just making a film,” he argued. “Audiences aren’t that naïve. To assume they can’t separate reel from real is underestimating them.”

As a result, the romantic angle between their characters was scrapped altogether.

A Script That Kept Changing
Beyond casting, Aamir also discussed his discomfort with the film’s shifting script. “The version we eventually shot was far from the original. It kept changing so much, I felt completely disconnected from it,” he said.

Even before release, Aamir sensed trouble. After watching the first cut, producer Aditya Chopra called him with high praise: “He said, ‘You’ve made a brilliant film. You don’t realise what you’ve done.’”

But Aamir wasn’t convinced. “I was shocked. I told them I didn’t understand the film. They thought I was joking. But I told them honestly — this won’t work, not even for a day.”

His warnings weren’t well-received. “I would argue every day that we had made a structurally flawed film. But I wasn’t in control. Vijay (Krishna Acharya) and Aditya were convinced. They were the director and producer — they had the final say.”

The Missed Twist
One of the film’s earliest ideas, Aamir revealed, involved killing off Amitabh Bachchan’s character at the interval — a bold plot twist that was eventually abandoned. “That could’ve been impactful, but they didn’t go with it,” he said.

In hindsight, Aamir’s experience with Thugs of Hindostan offers a rare glimpse into how even big-budget films with marquee names can falter — not due to lack of effort or intent, but because of misaligned vision and execution.